Ep. 91: Predicting Jaguars Monday Morning Headlines After Week 2 | Jags A.M. Podcast

Welcome to jag Zam today.

I'm Conownie Stevens, Ryan Sexton, and John Osier are with me today as we get ready for the home opener here at EverBank Stadium this weekend. The Jags are gonna take on the Browns and they're gonna both teams are gonna try to get in the win column for the very first time. We'll start out with our big things today. Number one is desperation. Both of these teams had a really rough Week one and so they're gonna go into this matchup hoping to get their first win of the season.

Again we the mistakes that we made, the subtle things, the communication issues offensively, even some of the communication things defensively. Have we have we corrected those right, and we won't know again until we get out on the practice field. So those are the things that and then ball security. You know, we got to create takeaways and we got to take care of the football and you know, I think if we do that, you know, it definitely helps your cancer.

Ran they're going into this maybe desperate. It's not the word you want to use. Urgency, a sense of urgency they're going to have to have if they want to win.

Yeah, you know, the interesting part gives We're one play away from the Jaguars not having to talk about desperation, which they were asked about in the locker room.

Right.

If Javon Holland doesn't punch the ball away from Travis Etn at.

The goal line, the Jaguars in all.

Likelihood win that game, and we're talking about the chance to go to and oh instead of the potential to go oh in two. So here's the number since the merger in nineteen seventy, right, there have been four hundred and seven teams that have started oh in two, but only thirty nine of those have made the playoffs. That's less than ten percent. So the odds are stacked against you, especially in a loaded AFC with trips to Buffalo for Monday Night football and Houston to finish out this month.

Yeah, you gotta win.

And I've always thought teams that lose in week one, if you come back strong in week two sort of shows.

Who you are. I think this is an opportunity for the Jaguars to do that.

I expect him to play well, but if you go zero and two, it's not good. And I think they will show that they are a strong team and it will show that they deserve this.

Preseason stuff we got.

I thought Doug Peterson all week has been a little frustrated with the media because I think he's looking at it and saying, look, we have to finish games. It's not that complicated. I don't know how else to say this. We have to finish games or we and we will be fine if we do right, if we want, we will be owned to.

Listen, guy.

In twenty twenty two, the Daguars started off two and one and then lost five games at the end of five consecutive games, and this was the exact same line of conversation.

Just finish, You're right there. Just finish. It feels like deja vous all over again.

Right, sounds really simple when we say it like that, right, just win, just finish.

It's fine.

Well, we have to see them actually do it on the field, so hopefully they'll do that in game number two. Home field advantage is are big thing number two today because obviously we.

Want to win at home, but it wasn't really a haven for the team.

Last year there were three and five, John, How important is it? Obviously we know they need to win, but also just making home a home field advantage again for that.

Well, I think it's really important.

I can't say it's everything, because you can do it the other way, but it's so much harder to do it being a great road team and then not coming back and hold and serve at home.

It's a little.

Strange because in twenty twenty two it was such an incredible home atmosphere, Brian, I thought it was the best home atmosphere I haven't seen every season. You've seen every season. You had home games that were unbelievable in twenty twenty two and you felt like, you know, they sort of

Listen that twenty twenty two seasons.

People who are watching this will remember the Baltimore game, which was one on the two point conversion at the very end of the ball game when Zay Jones pulled it. In the Cowboys game that was won at overtime with the dramatic play made by Rayshawn Jenkins, and then those two prime time Saturday nights back to back with a dramatic win also caused in large part by Rayshawn Jenkins over the Titans, and then everybody remembers Riley Patterson's field

You got to earn it right.

The way last season ended didn't leave a great taste in a lot of people's mouth. The way that last week ended didn't either. So this is an important game for this team to come out prove to the faithful in that stadium that they're back.

And ready to play.

This would go a long way towards creating sort of a downward flow of just absolute momentum in home situations for them this year.

You know one thing, on that guy, I'll take any win they can get right, But those last five games of twenty twenty two that Grim was talking about, they came from ten points down in every one of those games. Boy wouldn't the Jaguars love and need just a solid We am I saying he can ever trail, but to have a solid win where Again, I think this is a game they need to flex and show. Hey, sometimes you lose in week one, but we're a strong team.

Yeah, I think a no doubt or where they just lead from start to end would change a lot of minds, change a lot of conversations around here. Our final big thing today is going to be matchups. We played Cleveland last year, the guys played Cleveland last You're a very different matchup because of the players involved in that and what we've seen from these teams.

One thing is the same though.

Miles Garrett is still a game wrecker still out there on the field. Doug Peterson talked about what it takes to play against him.

Hard to just blok him one on one, even with offensive tackle. I mean it's it's a challenge, particularly on third down or second law when you're you know, when they think you're going to pass, it's uh, you know, you've got to You've got to spend the resources to slow him down. You give him, give them a lot of respect. And that's that's what teams do, right, I mean, that's what team You see it on film all the time, and and it's just it's the respect of who the player is.

You know, double team seems like it might be the name of the game, but sometimes that doesn't even get it done. Brian, what's it going to take to try to keep Miles Garrett from going crazy?

And it's gonna take everybody on the protection scheme, whether that's the back or the tight end or whoever stays to execute their assignment. Famously, at the end of that game in Miami last week, the back on that third down play that it looked like Anton Harrison got beat. It was the backsfolt Aaron had or not. He had Anton the inside position and someone was supposed to have the outside position. He let him go because he expected help.

The guy John is an.

Incredible blend of height, of length, of size, of incredible bend.

Right. I mean, the guy can get so low or he can just run over you. He is a great football player.

Yeah, Bucky Brooks and I were talking on a huddle up on Wednesday and we sort of came to the conclusion, Look, it's a quarterback driven lead. This guy might be the best football player on the planet who doesn't played quarterback. There's other guys in the conversation that he's certainly on the list. The good news is when you're playing a team with a great player, as long as he had a quarterback, you can minimize it. And again I think they can. They're gonna have to double, they're gonna have

And just to flip the script for a moment, you know, the Jaguars have two very good pass rushers that they're excited about as well three with Rick Armstead, who notched his first Jaguar sack last week in Kai. Both starting offensive tackles were limited in practice this week for the Browns, one with a knee, one with an elbow. Maybe the Jaguars can flip the script and make life very difficult for Deshaun Watson, who the Cowboys put on the ground six times on Sunday.

Sure that will be part of the game plan. Stay with us here on Jagzam. Coming up after the break, we're gonna talk more in depth about what Cleveland's bringing a talent, what the Jags are going to try to do. Tagsam Rocky by Fields Auto Group. You can see Fields first, Jacksonville's premier luxury auto group.

Go to Fields Auto dot com. Welcome back into Jagzam.

Here we're gonna break down this matchup against the Lynn Browns. This is a team that the Jags played last year, probably a game we would like to forget. That was a tough one, I think the start of the skid there in December. But this is going to be completely

Well, it's funny I asked Doug that question yesterday because I'm not quite sure. I mean, Nick Chubb got hurt last year and he was their offensive personality. They were a power running team behind a really good offensive line, and it's set up everything else that they want to do. But Jerome Ford is not Chubb. He's not back yet, and everything else they wanted to do went through David

Well, they changed the offense in the offseason. They went from that to a Kim Dorsey became the offensive coordinator, and they went to a scheme that is more built around to Shawn Watson rather than that. Even if Chubb was there. They're running out of the shotgun a lot. They're not a power running offense anymore. So it feels from a distance after one game that there's still a team trying to find its offensive identity. It clearly didn't

Josh heinz Allan, speaking in the locker room yesterday, said that part of their focus, most of their focus is going to be on stopping to Shawn just from.

Last week too. Uh you know, you know Russier's having them wrapped up and him still having that capability to to get away. So just being dialed in on you know, when you have him, it's gonna take probably more than yeah, you know, one two people to get him down. So you know, just just jump on him and hold on for dear life. Uh, cause he still has all capability of getting out of at any tackle.

Josh Hind's out on talking there John obviously the focus getting to him and finishing, which they've put a lot of focus on, and also giving him some credit cause Josh was around in those days when Watson was coming to town and doing the things that he was doing with the Texans.

Yeah.

Well if I if you played against him or washing him in those games, it was nightmares because you could get pressure on him and he would escape.

Uh.

He hasn't been that guy with the Browns because he's only played I think it's twelve games.

Thirteen if he count last week. Uh.

He wants to get back to that. He wants to get back to playing free. When he plays free, the po positives are that he can make huge plays out of it. The negative has followed him in his career is he tends to run into sacks. So if he has a day where he's running into sacks, everything looks like I talked about earlier, discombobulate it. If you let him get outside the pocket, then all of a sudden he becomes the guy he was. He hasn't been that, Brian. And then the key for the Jags is don't let

The Drags never.

Beat him because they could never quite corral him, right. And you saw a lot of dramatic plays he made, but they're also the little subtle plays where he'd be running to the sideline and you would think, all right, we've got him for a two yard game or a two yard loss at the last minute to turn to throw back to the tight end or DeAndre Hopkins and just keep pummeling you when you would think that you

Did to just take over.

I mean, the storyline in Cleveland is is he you know, is he waiting to become Seaun Watson again or is he an older to Shaun Watson in those days are behind.

I don't know the answer, but you know.

For the Jaguars, it's imperative that they keep that comeback at least one more week.

The interesting thing is the story isn't isn't limited to Cleveland anymore, right. The story was in the Wall Street Journal this week about what a disastrous trade that is. So he's facing it from all comers, and I just I don't and I don't think for a lot of reasons that he'll ever be that guy. But it doesn't mean he can't make plays like that guy occasionally if you give him the avenue.

And I think that's important, having that healthy respect that he can be that guy, but not allowing him to take over again.

On the defensive side of the ball, we.

Saw great I think I would say great mostly great performance for them against Miami obviously a couple of breakout plays, but they have such a dynamic offense. I was pleased overall with Nielson's scheme that first game. But they will be playing without Tyson Campbellho's dealing with that hamstring injury. Touched on and already Brian, But do you think they'll have Monterak Brown mostly in there? Darian Jones was impressive

Well, I think they'll have a lot of guys ready, right, I mean, Monterrek Brown has been here for a couple of years. He sort of built off of that dramatic play he made at the end of the game in New Orleans. He has a lot of confidence. I talked to Jerry and Jones in the locker room. He has a lot of confidence. Of course, he had a couple of good plays last week.

But I'll touch on something that.

John's going to hit on, and that is looking at if your defense, your front goes out and dominates the game, you'll be just fine in the secondary.

Yeah.

I mean that's philosophically in the NFL these days, it seems like if you're gonna have high powered offenses, you pressure them.

It's very difficult. We saw last week.

If you give a quarterback time fast receivers are eventually going to be to DV. You can't cover a guy more than four or five seconds in that situation.

So Tyson Campbell's lost hurts.

I expect Montera Brown to replace him as a starter based on just the vibe you got from Doug yesterday. Any test in the NFL these days is tough for a beat up secondary. The Jaguars strength defensively is their front. Their front needs to pressure Deshaun Watson into making sure their receivers don't matter.

All right, Stay with us here on Jagsam coming up. We're gonna look at what we think the headlines on Monday are gonna be after the game. For eleven years, Dreamfinders Home has been proud to call themselves the official homebuilder of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Visit dreamfinders homes dot com for all of the available inventory and go Jags. Sutteth also Florida's trusted and reliable moving company, Setteth proud to

Trying to start that situation.

You know, I can't remember one, so that's why.

I try to stay that situation. Just keep taking in one play at a time, you know. And I feel like, just understand that the team has fuel confidence in me, kind of just helped me. And I feel like just everybody reaching out to me after the game. My mom, my mom, calm me. She knew how much I wear my.

Heart on my sleeve. She's kind of recent.

I meant to shake it off and just continue to be who you are, you know, and be where your feet are and be great and uh, just go out there and showing who you are in.

This week, could to say Travis VPN in the locker room yesterday kind of back to his normal self. I didn't down his bounce back, but we're going to need him back to the mindset, the right mindset after that tough game against Miami, kind of feeling.

Responsible for that. But now this is where we need him to be.

So not every player will go into the locker room on Wednesday when he has a day like he did, and so I think he's a long way towards being back towards one hundred percent, just by the fact that he stood there and.

Smiled a different questions getting he's resilient and in a day's sense, I think the basically, look what happened Sunday. He didn't lose them in the game. His fumble prevented them from clinching. At that moment they would have won head he not fumbled, I think, But look, the bottom line is even after the fumble, they laid by ten and they had the Dolphins on their own twenty.

That doesn't have to be a game any fumble, nop correct.

A lot of stuff came after that play. Today, we are going to do our best at predicting what the headlines are going to be on Monday. So kind of what we expect to see in the game and what we think will take out of that.

Brian, what do you think we're gonna be talking about on Monday morning?

I foresee raining cats on dogs, right the pun obviously on the weather. I mean, is it ever gonna stop raining in North Florida? I would like to drive home without the rain or walk the dogs without the rain, Like probably a lot of people who were watching this, but listen, the Jaguars were much closer to coming away with the win those three plays. Aside, the rest of the day, we saw a lot of things to build on.

Yeah, I went with brown out just because I think this is a.

Game where you should.

If you're showing early in the season that you're a contender, If you're a strong team, weak ones, weird in the NFL, strange stuff can happen.

You win this game, you know, twenty.

Four to thirteen or something that feels solid, and you just sort of make the Browns. I went brown out because put them out of the picture, right. They don't need to matter to you this week. It's how you play, it's how you execute, show you're a team that can beat a contending team at home and make.

It not be a nail biighter in the fourth quarter, brown out.

Round out, And no matter who they played, if it had been you know, Texans, Texans out.

Whatever, it didn't hand.

Good no brown out really works. You can tell the journalism skills are coming in. I went with suns out, guns out for mine. A little weather prediction as well.

I'm hoping the sun resurfaces this weekend, and I'm hoping that offense we saw in the first half against Miami comes back around. I think a lot of a lot of what happened was based off that momentum swing that we saw after the fumble. We've seen flashes of it from Brian Thomas Junior from their running game even in the first half, So I'm hoping we'll see a little bit more of that offense what we saw in the first half again this Sunday as well. I think they're perfectly capable, don't you, Brian.

I do. I do.

I don't want to be over confident with the team that hasn't hasn't won a lot recently, but I think that right now they're a better football team. They're obviously healthier on both the lines, and that matters if guys do their job, which didn't happen in the fourth quarter last week. If they just come out and do their job, I think they win, and I think that they win comfortable is not the right term. But I think they've got a ten point winning them.

There's every possibility every matchup, strength of team, being at home tells you that they could have a very good game. There's no reason that they can't win this game except for the like Brian said, they've lost six to their last seven games. I didn't feel it, but after you look back on it, Sunday felt like last season they didn't execute when it mattered.

Until you do that, people are going to doubt that you can do it. So they got to do it.

I talked to Mitch Morse the other day the center, and he has a lot of confidence in them, and he wasn't here for the losing right and he's witnessed this team through training camp and he knew the backstory and he is not concerned about this team's ability to win a close game.

They just need to do it.

This week.

We'll prove a lot.

Absolutely, we're all going to have our eyes peeled and hopefully we'll see what we want to see when they take the field on Sunday.

So he was here on jag Zam one more block and go over what we have the rest.

Of the week and what's gonna come up on Sunday. Jags fans, if you want customized Jaguars furniture for your home, check got zipcare dot com to browse all the customizable options. Zip Chair is furniture for fans. Also this week's home open or brought to you by EverBank Advantage you make the most of your money at EverBank dot com.

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It's a huge spark for our team, a huge spark. And I told him, you know, I told him today, Actually he may be a rookie, he might be quiet, but that energy you had on Sunday, the confidence that we saw come out of you, Uh, that's gonna help our team. We see it and we feel it. So whatever he's been doing, it needs to keep doing it. And uh, he has a bright future ahead. It's only his first game. He's gonna continue to learn, He's gonna continue to get better and get more accustomed to the

I think the biggest bright spots in the Jags and in their game against Miami Brian Thomas Junior or the rookie just so impressive right out of the gate. Even his teammates impressed with what he was able to do in his first NFL game, and hopefully we're seeing more of it this week.

Well, if you're looking for a reason to believe that, we'll see Evan Ingram and Christian Kirk get more involved. I think the defense has to honor now Brian Thomas Junior, his size, his speed, his clear understanding of the game.

Right.

I mean, this is not a rookie who's just running a quick route. He is a guy who can get it done, and that Browns defense gonna have to respect that, which is going to open it up for one of those other two guys.

To get going.

Yeah, he looks so much better, and I thought he would. It looks like a pro, and he looks like an absolute star in the mate.

So let's see what happened.

Anybody got a player they're going to watch during the game or someone you expect to kind of bounce back.

I think Anton Harrison.

I mean you're going to watch him obviously because of number ninety five, who lines up most of the time to his side. But Harrison was so good in training camp. I mean he was one of the stars of training camp and last week it started poorly for him. Then he didn't get help at the end of the ball game and it looked bad for him. I expect him to bounce back and rise to that challenge.

Yeah, I think the the group of Harrison etn Kirk, you know, none of those guys had their best game.

Maybe throw Evaning into that.

Or Antonio Johnson and well, well we haven't.

Seen Antonio play at an absolutely high level because he's young. Against these Browns last year, all these four other guys have been star warts. You don't expect them to have those kind of games. So I expect that Core grew or you know, part of the cores to play well Sunday.

Sure, we'll keep an eye on the secondary as well, Tyson Campbell out someone Trek Brown likely going to get the start there, and Jari and Jones as well. So enjoy the game this Sunday. We'll see you back here on Jagsam on Monday morning as you go over everything and hopefully Jaguars win.